Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) General.
(1) In accordance with Texas Education Code,
§§
61.821 -
61.832, each
institution of higher education that offers an undergraduate academic degree
program shall design and implement a core curriculum, including specific
courses composing the curriculum, of no less than 42 lower-division semester
credit hours.
(2) No upper-division
course shall be approved to fulfill a foundational component area requirement
in the core curriculum if it is substantially comparable in content or depth of
study to a lower-division course listed in the Lower-Division Academic Course
Guide Manual.
(3) Medical or dental
units that admit undergraduate transfer students should encourage those
students to complete their core curriculum requirement at a general academic
teaching institution or public junior college.
(b) Texas Core Curriculum. Each institution
of higher education that offers an undergraduate academic degree program shall
develop its core curriculum by using the Board-approved purpose, core
objectives, and foundational component areas of the Texas Core Curriculum.
(1) Statement of Purpose. Through the Texas
Core Curriculum, students will gain a foundation of knowledge of human cultures
and the physical and natural world, develop principles of personal and social
responsibility for living in a diverse world, and advance intellectual and
practical skills that are essential for all learning.
(2) Core Objectives. Through the Texas Core
Curriculum, students will prepare for contemporary challenges by developing and
demonstrating the following core objectives:
(A) Critical Thinking Skills: to include
creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis
of information;
(B) Communication
Skills: to include effective development, interpretation and expression of
ideas through written, oral and visual communication;
(C) Empirical and Quantitative Skills: to
include the manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts
resulting in informed conclusions;
(D) Teamwork: to include the ability to
consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to
support a shared purpose or goal;
(E) Personal Responsibility: to include the
ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical
decision-making; and
(F) Social
Responsibility: to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic
responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national,
and global communities.
(3) Foundational Component Areas with Content
Descriptions, Core Objectives and Semester Credit Hour (SCH) Requirements. Each
institution's core curriculum will be composed of courses that adhere to the
content description, core objectives, and semester credit hour requirements for
a specific component area. The foundational component areas are:
(A) Communication (6 SCH).
(i) Courses in this category focus on
developing ideas and expressing them clearly, considering the effect of the
message, fostering understanding, and building the skills needed to communicate
persuasively.
(ii) Courses involve
the command of oral, aural, written, and visual literacy skills that enable
people to exchange messages appropriate to the subject, occasion, and
audience.
(iii) The following four
Core Objectives must be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this
category requirement: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Teamwork,
and Personal Responsibility.
(B) Mathematics (3 SCH).
(i) Courses in this category focus on
quantitative literacy in logic, patterns, and relationships.
(ii) Courses involve the understanding of key
mathematical concepts and the application of appropriate quantitative tools to
everyday experience.
(iii) The
following three Core Objectives must be addressed in each course approved to
fulfill this category requirement: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication
Skills, and Empirical and Quantitative Skills.
(C) Life and Physical Sciences (6 SCH).
(i) Courses in this category focus on
describing, explaining, and predicting natural phenomena using the scientific
method.
(ii) Courses involve the
understanding of interactions among natural phenomena and the implications of
scientific principles on the physical world and on human experiences.
(iii) The following four Core Objectives must
be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement:
Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Empirical and Quantitative
Skills, and Teamwork.
(D)
Language, Philosophy, and Culture (3 SCH).
(i)
Courses in this category focus on how ideas, values, beliefs, and other aspects
of culture express and affect human experience.
(ii) Courses involve the exploration of ideas
that foster aesthetic and intellectual creation in order to understand the
human condition across cultures.
(iii) The following four Core Objectives must
be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement:
Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Personal Responsibility, and
Social Responsibility.
(E) Creative Arts (3 SCH).
(i) Courses in this category focus on the
appreciation and analysis of creative artifacts and works of the human
imagination.
(ii) Courses involve
the synthesis and interpretation of artistic expression and enable critical,
creative, and innovative communication about works of art.
(iii) The following four Core Objectives must
be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement:
Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Teamwork, and Social
Responsibility.
(F)
American History (6 SCH).
(i) Courses in this
category focus on the consideration of past events and ideas relative to the
United States, with the option of including Texas History for a portion of this
component area.
(ii) Courses
involve the interaction among individuals, communities, states, the nation, and
the world, considering how these interactions have contributed to the
development of the United States and its global role.
(iii) The following four Core Objectives must
be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement:
Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Personal Responsibility, and
Social Responsibility.
(G) Government/Political Science (6 SCH).
(i) Courses in this category focus on
consideration of the Constitution of the United States and the constitutions of
the states, with special emphasis on that of Texas.
(ii) Courses involve the analysis of
governmental institutions, political behavior, civic engagement, and their
political and philosophical foundations.
(iii) The following four Core Objectives must
be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement:
Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Personal Responsibility, and
Social Responsibility.
(H) Social and Behavioral Sciences (3 SCH).
(i) Courses in this category focus on the
application of empirical and scientific methods that contribute to the
understanding of what makes us human.
(ii) Courses involve the exploration of
behavior and interactions among individuals, groups, institutions, and events,
examining their impact on the individual, society, and culture.
(iii) The following four Core Objectives must
be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement:
Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Empirical and Quantitative
Skills, and Social Responsibility.
(4) Component Area Option (6 SCH).
(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B) of
this paragraph, each course designated to complete the Component Area Option
must meet the definition and Core Objectives specified in one of the
foundational component areas outlined in paragraph (3)(A) - (H) of this
subsection.
(B) As an option for up
to three (3) semester credit hours of the Component Area Option, an institution
may certify that the course(s):
(i) Meet(s)
the definition specified for one or more of the foundational component areas;
and
(ii) Include(s) a minimum of
three Core Objectives, including Critical Thinking Skills, Communication
Skills, and one of the remaining Core Objectives of the institution's
choice.
(C) For the
purposes of gaining approval for or reporting a Component Area Option course
under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, an institution is not required to
notify the Board of the specific foundational component area(s) and Core
Objectives associated with the course(s).
(5) Applicability of Texas Core Curriculum.
(A) Any student who first enrolls in an
institution of higher education following high school graduation in fall 2014
or later shall be subject to the current Texas Core Curriculum
requirements.
(B) Any student who
is admitted under the terms of the Academic Fresh Start program and who first
enrolls under that admission in fall 2014 or later shall be subject to the
current Texas Core Curriculum requirements.
(C) Any student who first enrolled in an
institution of higher education prior to fall 2014 shall, after consultation
with an academic advisor, have the choice to:
(i) complete the core curriculum requirements
in effect in summer 2014; or
(ii)
transition to the current core curriculum requirements, in which case,
previously completed core curriculum courses shall be applied to the current
core curriculum requirements under the same terms as those that apply to a
student who transfers from one institution to another. The student shall then
complete the remaining requirements under the current core
curriculum.
(c) Transfer of Credit--Completed Core
Curriculum. If a student successfully completes the 42 semester credit hour
core curriculum at a Texas public institution of higher education, that block
of courses must be substituted in transfer to any other Texas public
institution of higher education for the receiving institution's core
curriculum. A student shall receive academic credit for each of the courses
transferred and may not be required to take additional core curriculum courses
at the receiving institution.
(d)
Concurrent Enrollment.
(1) A student
concurrently enrolled at more than one institution of higher education shall
follow the core curriculum requirements in effect for the institution at which
the student is classified as a degree-seeking student.
(2) A student who is concurrently enrolled at
more than one institution of higher education may be classified as a
degree-seeking student at only one institution.
(3) If a student maintains continuous
enrollment from a spring semester to the subsequent fall semester at an
institution at which the student has declared to be seeking a degree, the
student remains a degree-seeking student at that institution regardless of the
student's enrollment during the intervening summer session(s) at another
institution.
(e) Transfer
of Credit--Core Curriculum Not Completed. Except as specified in subsection (f)
of this section, a student who transfers from one institution of higher
education to another without completing the core curriculum of the sending
institution must receive academic credit within the core curriculum of the
receiving institution for each of the courses that the student has successfully
completed in the core curriculum of the sending institution. Following receipt
of credit for these courses, the student may be required to satisfy the
remaining course requirements in the core curriculum of the receiving
institution.
(f) Satisfaction of
Foundational Component Areas. Each student must meet the number of semester
credit hours in each foundational component area; however, an institution
receiving a student in transfer is not required to apply to the fulfillment of
a foundational component area requirement semester credit hours beyond the
number of semester credit hours specified in a foundational component
area.
(g) A course may only apply
to a single foundational component area. If the SCH for a course in a
foundational component exceed the number of SCH allotted in that foundational
component area, the excess SCH must either be applied to the Component Area
Option or as part of the specific degree requirements, such that the additional
SCH will not increase the number of required SCH to complete the
degree.
(h) Transcripts. All
undergraduate student transcripts should indicate whether a student has
completed the core curriculum satisfactorily, and which courses satisfied a
requirement of the institution's core curriculum. Identifying numbers
recommended by the Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions
Officers (TACRAO) must identify each completed core curriculum course on
students' transcripts, in order to indicate courses utilized to satisfy core
curriculum foundational component area requirements as follows:
(3) Life and Physical Sciences =
030;
(4) Language, Philosophy and
Culture = 040;
(6) American History =
060;
(7) Government/Political
Science = 070;
(8) Social and
Behavioral Sciences = 080; and
(9)
Component Area Option = 090.
(i) Notice. Each institution must publish and
make readily available to students its core curriculum requirements stated in
terms consistent with the Texas Common Course Numbering System.
(j) Substitutions and Waivers. No institution
or institutional representative may approve course substitutions or waivers of
the institution's core curriculum requirements for any currently enrolled
student, except as provided in subsection (k) of this section. For students who
transfer to a public institution from a college or university that is not a
Texas public institution of higher education, courses the student completed
prior to admission should be evaluated to determine whether they apply to one
of the institution's core curriculum component areas. Only those courses the
institution has accepted for transfer that can demonstrate fulfillment of the
foundational component area content descriptions, core objectives, and semester
credit hours required for the appropriate foundational component area or areas
should be applied to the institution's core curriculum.
(k) Accommodations.
(1) An institution of higher education may,
on a case-by-case basis, approve an accommodation of a specific core curriculum
foundational component area requirement as described in paragraph (3) of this
subsection for a student with a medically-documented learning disability,
including but not limited to dyslexia, dysgraphia, or Asperger's
Syndrome.
(2) Accommodation shall
not include a waiver or exemption of any core curriculum requirement.
(3) An institution may approve for core
curriculum applicability a course the institution offers but that is not
approved as a part of the institution's core curriculum, if the institution
demonstrates that the course has been approved to fulfill the same specific
foundational component area requirement at five or more other Texas public
colleges or universities. The Texas Common Course Numbering System course
number may be used as evidence of the suitability of the course under this
subsection.
